The New Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Chronographs
Cars and watches, [almost] always a good combination. Frederique Constant’s CEO Peter Stas must have thought so too when he started to support vintage car rallies back in 2004. Not only do they support the European Healey Club again in 2018, they also decided to celebrate with a new Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Chronograph.
Vintage Rally Healey Chronographs
The vintage in the name ‘Vintage Rally Healey Chronograph’ of course refers to the rally they support, but also to the inspiration of the three new chronograph models. Limited to 2888 pieces each, these chronographs come in a 42mm case in stainless steel and in plated rose gold. For the stainless steel version, there are two dial executions: one with (racing) green and white subdials and one in silver with grey subdials. The plated rose gold Vintage Rally Healey Chronograph has a navy colour dial with white subdials. All watches come with matching racing (perforated) straps.
Aside from the plated rose gold and dial variations, all three watches come with the same specifications. They have the FC-397 chronograph calibre installed, ticking at 28.800vph and offering a 46-hour power reserve. This chronograph movement is an ETA based calibre, with two registers. One indicating the running seconds, and at 3 o’clock you will find a 30-minutes counter. The movement is visible through the sapphire case back, as you can see below.
Two register chronographs have been hot for a while, and totally in-line with the craze for vintage (chronograph) watches. If it wasn’t for the size of this watch and the huge Arabic numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock, this watch could be easily mistaken for a real vintage watch. Oh, and the convex sapphire crystal of course.
The two steel versions retail for €2595 / $2795USD, and the plated rose gold version for €2895 / $3095USD. The stainless steel green dial Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Chronograph has reference number FC-397HGR5B6. The white and grey dial version has reference number FC-397HSG5B6 and the plated rose gold watch has reference number FC-397HN5B4. All 3x 2888 watches are numbered on the case back.
Our own preference would be the white and grey Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Chronograph. The green one is very British indeed, but in the long run, we feel the white and grey might be a bit more classic. The plated rose gold is very nice, but it makes it too much of a dress watch for us.
Back to supporting rallies: In July, the Healey Club France will participate in the “Le Mans Classic” 2018 rally with the race team consisting of the Austin Healey 3000 MK II 54 FAC of Jetze Visser and the drivers Jan Lammers and Jaap Sinke.
More information via the official Frederique Constant website.
